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HOWEE74

By Howee74

United Kingdom Gb

Hi everyone - the plants in the photo have sprung up in a couple of pots. I'm pretty sure theyre Foxgloves, but can someone give me a second opinion before i go dotting them around the borders?



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Answers

 

If the leaves are furry then they could be mullion, 'Lambs Lugs'.

11 May, 2011

 

Just googled that, dont think it is ( though wouldnt mind if it was). Leaves arent furry

11 May, 2011

 

Never heard of mullion or Lambs Lugs, Bulbaholic... I'd say feel the leaves and if they're uncomfortable to touch, get rid of them, means they'll be the weed that gets tall and has pretty blue flowers that you can't get rid of, and I can't remember the name of. If they're soft and pleasant to touch, then they're Foxgloves.

11 May, 2011

 

Must say that they don't look like foxgloves to me, I'm afraid. You could always wait and see if they flower or just dump them as being a possible weed as you haven't (I assume) set them in ?

11 May, 2011

 

The only 2 plants with similar leaves are Foxgloves and Comfrey. Both of them are pests as far as I am concerned.

11 May, 2011

 

I'm sure they're foxgloves, we have them by the thousand - would be by the million if I didn't intervene.

I think the furry leaves Bulbaholic was referring to would be Mullein (common mullein - Verbascum thapsus). I've never heard them called "lambs lugs" - that's Stachys byzantina or Lychnis coronaria to me.

11 May, 2011

 

Mullein's not the one I'm thinking of with the pretty blue flowers on spikes..

11 May, 2011

 

Is the pretty blue one you can't get rid of Borage, Bamboo? I grew some in a pot once and it seeded for ever after between the paving. Had to move to get away from it.

11 May, 2011

 

Thank you, Beattie, that is exactly the plant I was meaning. Furry, silvery leaves with a tall spike of yellow flowers - seeds around like mad. The Lambs Lugs (translated to Lambs Ears in English ;-0) bit is another common name problem.

11 May, 2011

 

Yep, that's it Beattie - someone's told me that before and it just slips between the cracks in my memory. Looks remarkably like foxgloves till it gets bigger, but has horrible to touch leaves.

11 May, 2011

 

Bingo! x2 :-)
My kids used to complain about the borage leaves, but they never seemed to bother me - I just loved the intense blue flowers and the way they just appeared where they wanted to.

11 May, 2011

 

Alkanet is more common than borage, though closely related, and it is a great spreader, so it could be that either. But young foxgloves do occasionally look like that.

11 May, 2011

 

thank you so much for the picture of the foxglove leaves, i now know what i have grown from seeds i had in unmarked envelope from last year, thought they were penstemons LOL

26 Jul, 2017

How do I say thanks?

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